Mitchdesj, it is gorgeous. I remember going there for Mother's Day brunch on two occasions as a teenager. The bride recently gave up her own business where she cooked meals for families. Don't know why she quit, but I know she is into fine food. I got chastised by some friends at the wedding when I told them I needed some fashion consultation. They say I need to get out more! Woodie2, my brother and his wife live in Port Murray, NJ and as a hobby they cook gourmet meals together. On one visit here, they cooked a whole chicke inside a loaf of bread! Out of six of us, I only have one sister that doesn't cook or bake. I even too gourmet cooking in high school and my girlfriend and I have a dream of opening in Italian bakery someday. Dragonfly, I have some confessions -- first, as of this month, I no longer teach fitness classes. I am so busy with getting this addition built that I just did not have time to adequately prepare for each class. I also have terrible plantar faschitis and I just wanted a break until after the holidays. Second, I do have a fully functioning kitchen. I am just too tired to plan meals. Thankfully, my family is very understanding. Drywall goes up this week, so we are close to completion. I will check out the cooking forum for some quick and easy meals.

lenam - I saw leg warmers in stores this last fall. I just about fainted. I had them in about a dozen colors, including the rainbow stripes, back in the 80s... they were about the only thing that got me to school wearing a skirt during the winter, since I lived in Maine and NH and from fourth grade on walked a minimum of a mile each way (high school was two miles), short of wearing sweatpants under your skirt like a lot of girls did. harriethomeowner - hey, I wore knee-highs under MY wedding dress! Durn thing was practically body armor (the bodice literally stood up by itself and the floor-length skirt and petticoat made something like six layers of fabric) and was hotter than Hades even in October. (It was borrowed, and beggars can't be choosers. The original owner wore it in July - I think I would have died of heat prostration!) I figured I wasn't going to be doing the can-can, so what the heck, I wasn't going to roast in full pantyhose. Not to mention it was tough enough to go to the bathroom in that pile of meringue, but wriggling back into pantyhose while keeping a handmade silk gown out of the toilet? Not gonna happen. Thigh-highs are a NO WAY for me - since I'm plump I get the "burst sausage" effect at the top, way nasty. So knee-highs it was. Didn't wear a bra either - didn't need it with that bodice! My grandmother was horrified. "Almost every single dress for a woman is some sleeveless or strappy or bare thing." Sorry, but I say "Piffle" on that. I don't wear sleeveless/strappy/bare things to "nice" occasions for the most part because some people find my tattoos offensive, but I have several dresses in my closet with sleeves ranging from mid-bicep to wrist-length, not counting dressy blouse-and-skirt or sweater-and-skirt - including short-sleeved lightweight sweaters for summer - combinations, jacket dresses, and a skirted suit that I basically only wear to funerals. :-) (I'd probably have more if I had reason to wear them, if we go shopping DH loves to go all Carson Kressly on me and always tries to put me in dresses.) Coldwater Creek is usually my go-to place for dressy stuff - while they have sleeveless dresses, they also typically have plenty with sleeves. I absolutely covet this dress, but I can't afford it, I'm not sure the 16 would fit, and have nowhere to wear it anyway. Last time I had to shop for a dress for a wedding (last summer) I ended up at Fashion Bug which is where I usually go for things I'm not going to wear much because it's generally very inexpensive, where there were plenty of dresses with sleeves - short sleeves (mid-bicep), yes, but it was also August. Since the wedding was outdoors and expected to go well into the evening, I picked up an openwork lacy sweater to wear with it when it got chilly and the bugs came out. Goes great over a fancy tank top and skirt. The Chadwicks catalog has cute things that don't cost the earth, while if you have a lot more to spend Talbots has some special occasion dresses that are pretty drop-dead. IMO jacket dresses are very attractive if they fit well and are in a nice fabric, and there are usually very pretty ones out there. Penneys has a pretty good selection. That's just scratching the surface.

I hope nobody thought I wore socks with sandals! I meant to say that ALL shoes rub so I wear socks or hose, I don't wear the flip-flop type sandals at all b/c they rub. Sometimes I will wear hose with a strappy shoe that I guess you could call a sandal - if they're dressy, have heels (even wedges). Casual open-toe sandals I don't wear hose - of course I'm usually wearing those with shorts! Even in my 20's and wearing miniskirts I always wore hose with heels. They help reduce the friction. Don't do anything for sweaty feet though - I had lots of pairs of hose with stained feet from the dye coming off the shoes. My kids' shoes stink - even 10-yr old DD's feet sometimes stink. But the 15-yr runner's are the worst!

Thank you,Angel Greenfish1234 the shutters are now gone :) I had been leaning towards matching the skirting to the risers.But then I thought what if I do it and it looks too dark.I would probably be able to tell after it's done.But then again I thought the shutters looked ok. Ha